Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1296: Mettle of Steel



Skullius gnashed his teeth.

He couldn't have imagined that two of the enemies that had caused him some of the most treacherous ordeals in the past week would be standing side by side and in more nefarious, overwhelming forms.

Actuass had died and passed on his Undeath powers to the young EverSword heir, Rias, who had the ridiculous Imagining Technique.

Fulgardt had infused Skullius with his WILLS, which almost ended with him killing himself. But Skullius would have gladly traded this Fulgardt before him for his possessed self as an opponent any day.

The Immoral, was, after all, a Divine being; this man had crippled an entire world on his own, almost turning the race of Luminants extinct. He had single-handedly left Luserus, a Deity, defeated.

Skullius wasn't sure which timeline he came from, but that hardly mattered right now.

Elita only needed to see the cloak of darkness around Fulgardt to guess who he was. Skullius' reaction also helped confirm it.

"Well, this is pretty bad," she muttered under her breath.

Fulgardt sniffled mirthfully.

"I wasn't quite sure I'd run into you at all - my successor. The future is quite disappointing, you see. The only thing that puts a smile on my face is the fact that Maqi still remains the greatest power on Aigas. With the Giants gone - and I was so utterly devastated to find out - this nation proves its worth against time. Yet," Fulgardt glared at the First Horn, "all this power has been rotting away in this muddy, backwards cesspool."

The Incandescent Stagers within the hall turned furious. Their pressure shook the palace and then the city and then the entire nation!

They knew what Fulgardt was; or perhaps they guessed.

They knew how powerful he was.

But they did not take kindly to his insult.

Fulgardt scoffed at them.

"Enough!" the First Horn commanded and the hall turned silent and still. He gazed down at Fulgardt. "Did you rip through time only to burn away our dignity?"

The Immoral laughed and turned from him. He graced Skullius with his attention.

"What did you promise this fool?" he asked. "If you are indeed the one who owns my Labyrinth now, I can only assume you promised him a gift with my powers, and he is more willing to receive it from you rather than from me. That pains me."

Skullius' brow only tightened further.

Fulgardt was amused.

"Come now. Is this how you reward the progenitor of your powers? Show me a little fucking respect."

"You're going to be veeery disappointed if you're hoping for a hug from me," Skullius said icily, Amras arming his body.

Fulgardt's face turned as deep and dark as shadow, but his grin remained.

"I see. You're another ungrateful, backstabbing dunce, aren't you?" he spat. "My Direction must the funniest thing. Even across time, I find little loyalty nomatter what I do." DUUM!

"What loyalty does a deluded sockethole like you deserve? Even your own bear their fangs against you. Ha! You couldn't be more pathetic. You're a Divine from before their time, a legend, and they STILL don't see someone worth fearing!" Skullius said, laughing.

The experts in the hall were emboldened by his words. Indeed, they weren't afraid. Even if it meant death, they would bare their powers against the Immoral.

Fulgardt's grin turned darker and darker. He was no longer amused. DUUUM!

"Well, your tongue is quite sharp. Only Rayn ever bested me in a battle of words," Fulgardt said with a cold chortle. "It's unnerving how much like him you are. You even ally yourself with the Paladin pups."

Elita did not like that jab. She too wasn't afraid of Fulgardt.

She brandished Broodweiler and scoffed.

"Keep talking, old man. When I take your head, it will be all the more satisfying."

DUUUUM! PWAAAAA!

Right then, space exploded like glass, alarming everyone in the hall!

A series of persistent, glowing orbs had just escaped a prison of darkness and ripped through

space!

Skullius gaped, utterly bewildered.

'NO!'

It was the WILLS of Fulgardt!

He had sealed them in a prison in the great void through his Andori, [King of Severing Twilight: AfterDark]. The prison was powerful, but it was distant. Without actively checking in, Skullius couldn't tell what was happening within it!

The WILLS hurtled towards Fulgardt who realised what they were only when they sank into his body one by one.

Skullius grimaced.

'How the hell did they escape? Wait! Could they have escaped all along? Were they just biding their time?' he thought, appalled.

The WILLS were indestructible; at least with his current arsenal he couldn't destroy them. Perhaps they possessed other powers that they had kept hidden, like for instance, complete immunity to Insurgent Magnus abilities. Skullius thought this was likely the case.

Fulgardt hummed as the WILLS fed into him.

His eyes quivered and his arms twitched.

"Ah, I see now," he said and mirth returned to his face. He pushed back his long, black hair and laughed mockingly. His eyes stared deep at the Hybrid Warmoth "So that's how it is,

Skullius."

...!!!

'He's got all his and my memories from when he was possessing me,' the Hybrid Warmoth thought and cursed.

When she heard Skullius' name spill from Fulgardt's lips, Elita channelled her Voided Death Essence, reinforcing herself.

"Let's kill him, Skullius," she said and assumed a sword stance. "If he knows everything

about you..."

Fulgardt glared at the former Champion.

"Kill me?" he asked, raising a brow.

It was Skullius who responded to his arrogance. The middle and ring fingers of his upper right hand locked together. He was ready to activate [Instant Embodiment of Perfection] and assume his War Body in a flash.

"Like the lady said, sockethole," he said tartly, "it will be that much more satisfying when we

take your head."

Fulgardt's grin dimmed. The gesture in Skullius' hand... the Amras he was releasing...

The Immoral's eyes focused deeper on Skullius and for a moment, he looked concerned. He hid his unease well though.

"Brat, you're hiding something stronger than I am!" he said with a single, dry fit of laughter. Amras burst from his body. "Amusing. Deeply amusing. It's settled then. We are all dying here! As powerful as you are, strength has a bloated meaning in the wider reality, and I have

no shortage of strengths!"

Right then, a flash flared behind Fulgardt who donned a crazy, demented visage. The light coalesced into a massive ethereal figure in an ancient, silk robe with ugly patterns. The creature's features were covered in sores, scabs and gashes and its face was covered by dozens of golden bands. Great, cracked beads floated around the creature, smoking and sputtering

with sparks.

...!!!!!!

Skullius paled.

This creature...

He didn't need to be told!

It was a Corrupted Deity!

He activated [Instant Embodiment of Perfection] at once, but Elita was faster. A blank, shiny sapphire mask appeared over her face and her presence seemed to grow tenfold.

The Immobility Pin, a World rank Prime khopesh Skullius had gifted her from the Warmoth's Treasury, appeared in her free hand and she flung it at a dozen times the speed of light!

The red khopesh stuck itself in the space right before the Corrupted Deity's head!

The creature grew still, immobilised, but only for a millisecond. The khopesh shattered almost immediately.

Fulgardt was taken aback. He had not expected Elita to be this competent.

The millisecond the Immobility Pin (which was able to restrict the movements of entities) bought was enough for Elita to dash forward without the need to worry about the Corrupted Deity's immediate counter. Her Broodweiler was ready to slay the Immoral.

Fulgardt had his eyes on her though. He took her more seriously now.

Rias' body blazed with greenish-black Undeath flames, and the large head of a deer appeared above him: the conduit for his Imagining Technique. While slower in reacting, he was still a competent player in the chaos.

A horrendous amount of Amras burst from Skullius, and his body began to change. Everything

around him seemed to start glistening, burning away.

However...

"Majestic Territory Expulsion...!"

The Territory that erupted right then, surprised the four.

Skullius and Fulgardt sensed tens of thousands of Creeds being expended to make it as strong

as it ended up being.

Even if it was only for a split second, the frightening hellscape that the four were dragged

into, littered with archaic towers of intense blue flames and hundreds of burning, charred men watching them, managed to outshine everything else in terms of extravagance. The Territory captured the attention of the Divines.

It shattered immediately afterwards, however, having failed to contend with Elita's powers, the pressure from the Corrupted Deity and Skullius' tide of Amras. But its purpose was served

all the same.

The First Horn had risen from his bowl, his body engulfed in blue flames. He stared down the four experts, his face fierce, fearless.

"If you wish to slaughter each other, be my guests. However, you shall NOT do so in my

domain."